The Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, presidential candidate, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, was not qualified to contest the February 23, 2019 election, the All Progressives Congress, APC, on Friday declared.
The reason, it said, was because Atiku is not a Nigerian.
Describing Atiku as a Cameroonian, the party said he was born on November 25, 1946 in Jada, Adamawa, in Northern Cameroon.
By birth therefore, he is not a Nigerian, the party said.
The party made the declaration in response to the request of Atiku for the tribunal hearing complaints about the last general election to declare him the winner.
Atiku in the petition said the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, erred by declaring President Muhammadu Buhari of the APC winner of the presidential election.
Atiku claimed that the election was fraught with irregularities.
He claimed that he scored the highest number of votes in the election and should have been declared the winner.
He therefore prayed the tribunal to declare him the president or that a fresh election should be conducted.
But in its reply as filed by its lead counsel, Lateef Fagbemi, APC said based on his argument that Atiku was not qualified to contest the election allegedly being a foreigner, his votes should be discarded.
The party added that in addition, most of the claims contained in Atiku’s petition had become statute barred as they were not filed within the time required by law.
APC also argued that the tribunal was not the appropriate place to entertain the case.
According to it, the case of the educational qualification of Buhari which was raised by Atiku in the petition could not be treated by the tribunal.
No date has been fixed for the hearing of the petition yet.
